Rain Shortens Tuesday Practice for Team Penske

May 13, 2014

SPEEDWAY, Ind. (May 13, 2014) – Team Penske had its lightest day of practice Tuesday during a rain-shortened session in preparation for the 98th running of the Indianapolis 500.

Juan Pablo Montoya led the way before rain cut the session short with three hours remaining. He was clocked at 40.1580 seconds (224.115 mph) in the No. 2 Verizon Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet, the third-fastest lap overall of the day.

“We started today off in a little more of a qualifying setup on the No. 2 Verizon Chevy, just trying to creep up on what we’ll need for this weekend’s pole days,” said Montoya. “The car felt good and had a lot of speed since it was more trimmed out. Unfortunately we had an electrical issue and it took us a couple of runs to figure it out, but that’s why I was stopped on the grass. Then the rains came and that was the end of the session.”

“Another great day for the No. 3 Pennzoil Chevrolet,” stated Castroneves. “We did what we needed to do before the rain came in. Now we are just making sure that we are ready to go as soon as the track is open tomorrow. It looks like the weather is going to be hit and miss again, so when the track goes green we will be ready. But we are getting close to qualifying and that is what we are starting to think about.”

Will Power, the Verizon IndyCar Series points leader, posted the 18th-best lap -- 221.610 mph in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet.

"Surprisingly, the weather worked out for us earlier in the day to get enough laps in,” said Power. “It was great to get out there today and the Verizon Penske Chevrolet is running very well and fast. We're making a lot of progress and, overall, I'm very happy with how the day went."

Team Penske, which combined for 280 laps during Monday’s session, was limited to 138 laps Tuesday. Power led the team with 57 laps, while Castroneves turned 56 laps and Montoya 25 circuits on the track.

Practice resumes Wednesday at 12:00 pm ET and continues throughout the week. Pole qualifying is scheduled to begin Saturday.